“Your house?” The confusion is clear on her face and in her voice.
“Yep.”
“But—”
“Got a garage.” It’s not the best explanation but this woman has me tongue-tied. If I’m going to be spending more time around her, I need to fix that. Like her car. I’ll work on both. “I fix up old cars.”
“Ah. Right. I think Olivia mentioned something about that,” she says, her forehead creased with concentration. “Yeah, she said you rebuilt the car Carter drives.”
“I did.”
“So you aren’t a bartender?”
“Yes.”
“Yes, you aren’t, or yes, you are?” The grin on her face says she’s finding our conversation amusing.
“Sorry. Yes, to both. Fix cars. Serve drinks.”
“A man of many talents.”
She has no idea. I’d love to show her all my talents. I scrub those thoughts from my head and focus on a subject I could talk about in my sleep. “Where’d you get the Jag?”
“My ex wanted it when my grandfather died.”
“It was your grandfather’s?”
“Yes. He bought it brand new, I’m the second owner.”
“You didn’t give it to your ex?”
The smile on her face is a little devious. “No. I kept it in my name and because it was in a little dis-repair when Grandpa died, Julian never drove it. The repairs weren’t complete until after he knocked up his secretary.”
“After he…” My gaze snaps in the direction the guy she was with disappeared.
“Oh! Not him. That was Derwent James Cotsworth the third.” A frown mars her pretty face before she mumbles, “His name was the first red flag.”
I watch as she mulls something over in her head before giving it a shake and forcing a smile to her lips.
“So…are you going to fix my car?”
“If you want.”
“Garrett, if you can fix it, I’m more than happy for you to do it.”
“I can.”
“Good.”
A light breeze picks up; it’s not cold but it’s not exactly warm either, and the dress she’s wearing is thin, bares all her arms and most of her legs. “Are you cold?”
“A little. But we shouldn’t be here long, right?” She eyes me with concern. “Did they say how long they’d be?”
“George only works for me. He’ll be here in about”—I check my watch—“five minutes.”
“Okay, I can last that long.”
Without thinking, I wrap an arm around her shoulders and tug her against my side. “I’m big enough to be a wind break.”
